‘We’re seeing higher vacancy rates’: Health workers union says Manitoba needs to do more

The union representing Manitoba health-care employees says the province needs to pick up the pace and deliver on its election promises.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) released an in-depth report Thursday, which details some of the vacancy issues facing rural Manitoba in a health-care system that continues to struggle.

MGEU president Kyle Ross said some health regions, like Prairie Mountain, are dealing with a vacancy rate close to 50 per cent in staffing areas other than nurses and doctors — including health-care aides and home care staff.

“Where there’s less opportunities … we’re seeing higher vacancy rates because the jobs aren’t competitive anymore,” Ross said at a press conference Thursday.

“These people are not choosing health care, and we need to make health care an employer of choice if we want to staff these jobs up and have a good health system.”

The union outlined 10 recommendations in its report, From Crisis to Stability – Fixing the Staffing Crisis in Manitoba’s Health Care System, which attributes the province’s current health-care crisis to cuts and privatization under the previous provincial government, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and an aging population.

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The recommendations include a comprehensive recruitment strategy for all positions, phasing out private for-profit recruitment agencies, improving workplace health and safety, and ending system-wide restructuring.

The MGEU said recruitment and retention issues are at the root of the challenges in the health-care system, and relying on private agencies to fill gaps is costly and doesn’t fix the long-term problem.

Earlier this year, the province laid out aggressive plans to bolster the number of nurses and doctors in Manitoba, but Ross said that needs to expand to other professions as well.

“This government made an election commitment to fix health care. To keep their promise, they must invest in the entire health-care team,” Ross said.

Global News has reached out to provincial officials for comment.

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